


The way you stare at me

by RipVanWinkle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: After Space Whale, Arguing, But Before Return to Earth, Enamored Keith, F/M, Flirty Keith (Voltron), Flustered Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay tension, Getting Together, Keith Saw the Future, M/M, Pidge | Katie Holt is So Done, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sharing a Bed, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space family, Team as Family, blade of marmora
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 03:43:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18770494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RipVanWinkle/pseuds/RipVanWinkle
Summary: While aboard the Space Whale, Keith sees a vision of a surprising future, one he never dared hoped would become reality. With a chance at true happiness with the man he loves almost in his grasp, Keith knows he can't afford to mess this up.So he overcompensates. A lot. All at Lance's mental and cardiac expense.





	The way you stare at me

**Author's Note:**

> 1/3
> 
> **Story warnings: language, non-explicit sexual content, tomfoolery**

“So….”

Hunk continues to tinker away at his latest project, some multi-wavelength doohickey with too many multisyllabic words in its name for Lance to bother remembering. He grunts absently, gesturing at a nearby screwdriver before flattening his palm, “So?”

“So,” Lance reiterates, grabbing the tool and handing it off, “so I’m bi.”

“Yeah,” Answers Hunk as he corkscrews a few studs in place along a flat metal covering, “we’re all well aware.”

Lance groans in frustration and throws his arms onto Hunk’s shoulders, pressing his chest into the other’s back, “Aaaaaand I’ve never even  _ been  _ with a boy before!” He buries his head into his friend’s shoulder blades as if to hide his make believe shame.

Refusing to bother with dignifying that with a glance, Hunk screws the last corner, “You don’t have to be intimate with a gender to know you’re attracted to them, Lance. You know that.”

“Of course I do!” Lance is quick to exclaim, making Hunk wince at the close proximity. The Blue Paladin smiles a sheepish apology when Hunk shoots him a glare, deciding to unwind from Hunk to instead drape himself dramatically across an adjacent lab table. They’re hanging out in one of the castleship’s many laboratories, haven been ever since Lance came specifically looking for Hunk because he hasn’t seen him all day. Lance originally tried to convince Hunk to take a break but, once that didn’t work, resigned himself to  _ annoying  _ Hunk into taking a break. Any minute now….

“But, like, I’ve been with girls! I just want to be with a guy  _ so badly. _ ” He whines pathetically, “Guys are so...so... _ hot _ and junk.”

Hunk chuckles, “Any guy? Doesn’t matter who?”

“Well, I wouldn’t just blow  _ anyone- _ ”

“First of all, ew. Second of all,  _ ew.  _ Third of all, you already have a guy lined up.”

Lance narrows his eyes at the other boy, sitting up fully onto the table and crossing his legs. He folds his arms at his chest and scowls, “Stop right there, satan, shut up.”

“You know it’s true.” Hunk finally looks up from his work with a teasing smile curving his thick lips, “You’ve grown closer to Keith.”

At mention of  _ he-who-shall-not-be-named,  _ Lance groans with a sarcastic roll of his eyes, “It’s called  _ bonding,  _ Hunk! You and I’ve gotten closer, too!” He gestures between the two of them with a wild hand.

“Sure, but I don’t make you blush and sigh and dramatically lounge across furniture.” 

“Don’t sell yourself short, buddy.”

Now it’s Hunk’s turn to roll his eyes skywards, “Oh, I’m sure I make you just melt.  _ Anyways,  _ I know you better than I know myself, and you totally have the hots for Keith. Just admit it.”

There’s definitely some truth to what Hunk’s saying. Keith has, in fact, made Lance sigh and blush and all that dumb stuff. More than once, actually. Perhaps even at an obnoxious rate- regardless! The point is, so what if Lance thinks Keith’s attractive? You’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to, in his opinion. Keith’s no Shiro, sure, but they’re two different types so it’s  _ totally _ unfair to compare them. Shiro’s the goody two-shoes, caring dad type (a real winner in Lance’s book), while Keith’s the...well he’s the...well he  _ seems  _ like the “emo douchebag that every girl in your high school had a huge hard on for because he’s so-o  _ mysterious”  _ type, doesn’t he?

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Lance doesn’t think Keith’s a douche anymore. Quite the opposite, in fact. The more Lance chews it over, the more he thinks Keith’s the bad boy with a soft side type, if anything. It’s hard to hear Keith’s adorably botched attempts at making the team laugh and see that goofy smile and still think he’s Edward Cullen. Keith’s too genuinely sweet (granted, in his weirdly aloof way) and caring (granted, in his aggressively overprotective way) and kind (granted, in his bashful, secretive way) for Lance to group him into some bland Otome Dating Sim category. 

“I didn’t mean to make you think this hard on it, damn.” Hunk cuts into Lance’s thoughts abruptly. He smiles smugly at Lance to which the other huffs at with the beginnings of a blush dusting his tanned cheeks.

“Shut it. I do  _ not  _ have the hots for that MCR wannabe. How could I? It isn’t like he’s here  _ ever. _ ” Lance crosses his arms at his broad chest as his eyes cast downwards in obvious displeasure, “Kinda hard to crush on someone you never friggin’  _ see. _ ”

Hunk stops tinkering, worried but not surprised by the sadness in his friend’s tone. He looks up at Lance with a much more sympathetic expression, “You know it’s hard for him to visit. He does whenever he can, and he calls us all the time.”

Yeah, Lance knows that and it pisses him off _more_ because- “It isn’t the same, Hunk!” He says, “Whenever he calls it’s always _Kolivan_ this or _Blades_ that, he doesn’t really _talk_ to us.” _To_ _me,_ he implies but steadfastly refuses to say, “It’s just more work for him.”

“Buddy, if you feel like this, why don’t you give him a call? Kolivan and Krolia allowed Keith to bring the tablet Pidge and I made for him for this exact reason.”

Lance snorts humorlessly, “Like he’d answer.”

“Have you tried?” Hunk sounds irritated now.

Embarrassed by his own design, Lance gives a jerky shrug and doesn’t meet Hunk’s gaze, “No… but he wouldn’t even if I had!”

“Somehow I seriously doubt that. Just- please. Talk to him at least the next time he calls? I’m sure he’ll love to talk to you personally. You haven’t exactly given him much of a chance to outside a team setting.”

The prospect of alone time with Keith, even with the fabricated protection of hiding behind screens, is enough to make Lance jitter with a mixture of dread and excitement. There’s no way Keith would willingly take time out of his new busy Blade of Marmora life just to talk to him…

...Then again, the last time Keith’s communicator transmitted to the castleship he  _ did  _ glance Lance’s way a lot and  _ did  _ ask him, specifically, how things were going...at the time, Lance thought he had something on his face and Keith was just too polite to flat out tell him. Which is a ridiculous thought for Lance to have considering Keith is  _ not  _ polite in the slightest! Did Keith want to talk to him last time? 

“Castleship to Lance. Please stop doing that.”

Lance blinks rapidly and jumps a little, “Shit- sorry, Hunk. I was in my head.”

Chuckling to himself, Hunk returns to his tuning whatever device he has decided to work on today, “You don’t need to worry so much. You and Keith have more in common than you realize.”

Before Lance can question Hunk and find out what the actual hell that’s supposed to mean, the doors to the lab whizz open and Shiro peeks inside. He grins affectionately when he sees his teammates and enters the room, allowing the doors to slide back shut behind him. 

Lance waves casually, wondering to himself if Shiro happened to hear any of his and Hunk’s conversation. He sure hopes not, Shiro being Keith’s number one confidant and all. “A-hoy, captain.”

“Ah- Shiro.” Is Hunk’s rather distracted reply. He has immersed himself in his project again, it’s going to be hard for Lance to annoy him out of this one. 

“I’m glad I finally found you two. I hope you’re putting Lance to work, Hunk.” Shiro says good naturedly. Hunk scoffs not unkindly.

Lance rolls his eyes and hops off the table, wanting to give his leader and idol his full attention, “I’ve been helping Hunk here all day. Ain’t that right, buddy?”

“Hm.”

“Good talk.”

Shiro laughs lightly and moves closer to Hunk to glance over his shoulder to see what he is working on. Their leader’s thick brows furrow and his expression twists into confusion, then he suddenly relaxes as if he blissfully gave up on figuring out what it is Hunk is doing. He turns to Lance and says, “I imagine you don’t know what he’s doing either.”

Lance shrugs, “He tried his damndest to explain it to me, went,” he moves his hand above his head, “right over my head.”

“Then I won’t try to, either. How long has he been at it?”

Just like Lance, Shiro hates it when any of the paladins spend too long training, building, coding, etc., and constantly highlights the importance of self-care and time management skills. He’s also the only one who can get Pidge to sleep in her actual bed. Hunk’s more of Lance’s prerogative, though, not that Shiro hasn’t tried valiantly before to convince his yellow paladin to take breaks during his infamous engineering marathons. 

It makes Lance think of Keith and how he used to stay in the training deck all hours of the night because he had insomnia. Keith thought he was slick for the first few weeks in space and that nobody was the wiser to his nightly jaunts. Shiro and Lance made it their mission to convince Keith, night after night, to at least lay down for a few hours. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

Lance shoots a look at the altean clock on the wall. He groans, “Six hours. I got him to go to the bathroom and eat a snack earlier, though.”

“Hunk!” Shiro chastises as he frowns.

Hunk hardly ceases his movements, “Yeah, sorry, I’ll take another break in an hour or so.”

“I don’t think Keith can stay on the line for another hour….”

_ That  _ gets both Lance and Hunk’s attentions. Lance straightens while he dumbly looks behind Shiro as if Keith would appear at any moment. Hunk finally rips his stare from his device and excitedly clambers out of his chair. He rushes past them to the door.

“Shiro! Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Hunk says on his way out.

Shiro chuckles fondly before turning to Lance. He jerks his head towards the open doorway, “C’mon, sharpshooter, he wants to see you.”

Lance sucks in a startled breath. Keith said he wants to see him? In that case…

“Race ya to the bridge!” He exclaims, already hurrying towards the hallway. He hears Shiro sigh before giving chase behind him, his steps surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly, given Shiro’s history) light and soundless. 

Shiro passes him some two hallways down with a delightful smile on his face, causing Lance’s heart to jump for joy at being the source of his usually serious leader’s childish glee while also making him shout despairingly at being overtaken. 

“You have to be quicker than that, slow poke.” Shiro chides excitingly.

“Oh it’s  _ so  _ on!” Lance yells right back.

.

.

.

Shiro makes it first to the bridge, gracefully skidding to a stop while Lance (only  _ three  _ steps behind, mind you!) almost stumbles over his own two feet in his haste to beat the black paladin. Their little race probably wasn’t one of Lance’s best ideas; the bridge is  _ very  _ far from the lab they were in. Lance pants and scowls when he sees Shiro is perfectly fine. Of course he is, the man’s an adonis!

“You...may have beat me now, old man...but I will get you….” Lance says, hands on his knees as he attempts to catch his breath.

Shiro  _ pffts  _ with offense, “‘Old man?’ Let’s see who’s really old during drills later.”

“Are you challenging me?  _ Old. Man. _ ”

Hunk enters then, also out of breath and a little sweaty, “Monsters! The both of you! You almost knocked me off my feet!” He points accusingly at them. Lance rolls his eyes payfully as Shiro grins evilly.  

_ “What are you three doing?” _

Lance’s head snaps up and he actually takes note of the room. Allura, Coran, and Pidge watch the two of them with matching expressions of amusement. The huge wall screen at the very front of the bridge is powered on and Keith,  _ just  _ Keith no other grumpy leaders of alien assassin gangs, stares with a single unimpressed, raised eyebrow. The corners of his lips are taunt with humor, however, barely noticeable to all except those who know him well. Which would be everyone in this room right now.

The blue paladin’s face muscles are twisting and pulling against his will into a delighted grin, all white teeth and thinned lipped. His voice is teasing and contrary to his obvious glee, “Has your mullet gotten  _ longer? _ ” He mock gasps, slapping a hand to his cheek and moving towards the screen.

Keith scowls, the high definition catching every ounce of attitude in his expression, “Nice to see you too, Lance.”

Ignoring how his name in Keith’s raspy voice makes him shiver, Lance laughs, “Isn’t it always?”

“Yeah, always this  _ annoying. _ ” Keith deadpans.

“Hah! You light up when you see me, admit it, Gerard.”

“I don’t even like MCR that much!  _ You’re  _ the one who knows all the lyrics!”

This is nice, this is  _ normal.  _ For a brief moment Lance forgets that Keith is however many light years away from them with aliens he doesn’t know and without the family he’s come to love (well, technically Krolia, being Keith’s mom and all,  _ is  _ Keith’s family, and Lance is more than positive Kolivan is like, in love with Krolia or something, so...step-dad?). The transmission is clear enough that Lance can see that cute angry glimmer in Keith’s violet eyes, see how his broad nose scrunches along with a beastly snarling upper lip. It’s entirely too pleasing and Lance has to stop himself from allowing his voice to melt into something overly sappy. That’d be the damn definition of  _ embarrassing.  _

The back and forth is very easy to fall back into. Lance waves his hand around with a sasy flick of his wrist, “Yeah, uh-uhn, The Cure is just as bad as MCR. Just different generations of emo, my dude.”

“THE CURE IS-” Keith cuts himself off and takes a deep breath, having lunged towards the camera of his transmitter as if he could suddenly materialize in front of Lance and shake him.  _ If only,  _ Lance sighs to himself. Keith releases the breath with a mixture of a groan and a growl and  _ yikes  _ that’s a new sound Lance hasn’t heard before and  _ yikes  _ that’s gonna be in his dreams tonight. 

As if sensing Keith’s impending headache, Shiro swoops in with a steadying hand on Lance’s shoulder, “Take it easy, boys, let’s not kill each other after five seconds of chatting, hm?”

Lance tears his gaze away from Keith to Shiro, the excitement and happiness in his gut diminishing at the realization he’s made a total idiot of himself again. He looks past Shiro to see Hunk scarcely holding back laughter and narrows his eyes with the promise of death. It hardly phases the yellow paladin. Lance crosses his arms and turns his head back to Keith.

Keith is staring at Shiro’s hand on Lance’s shoulder, a weird twist to his features. When he notices the others have gone quiet he clears his throat and cuts his narrowed glare elsewhere. Yeesh, what’s his problem?

“So, Keith,” Allura says happily, “what gives us the pleasure of your call?”

“To see a certain  _ somebody. _ ” Hunk snickers connivingly. Pidge peers at him quizzically, as does Lance, both obviously confused. 

Keith, on the other hand, stiffens and shoots a stare so heated Lance is surprised that Hunk doesn’t catch on fire right then and there. What’re they talking about? “Actually!” Keith hisses through his gritted fangs. Ever since he woke his blade and started spending so much time with other Galra, he’s been exhibiting more and more signs of alien-ness. Not that Lance is complaining- he’s always been a wee bit of a Tumblr monster fucker. 

“Actually I have real business to discuss.” Keith finishes, “And...yes. It does have to do with one particular person. Shut up, Hunk.”

Lance perks as Hunk laughs. Could that someone be…?

“Is everything on the up and up, number four?” Questions Coran.

Keith hums with a nod, “Yes, but there is a mission I have recently been assigned to that I can’t do by myself or with one of the Blades. I can’t even use Blade tech.”

Everyone in the room shares curious glances. Allura frowns at Keith, “So you need Voltron’s help?”

“ _ Some  _ of Voltron’s help.” Keith explains, “Having all of Voltron would cause a huge scene and this mission requires stealth. We have been scouting out a Galra headquarters on the edge of the Valerus Solar System near Planet Uathrea-”

_ “Heh- urethra.”  _ Lance mutters to Pidge with a sly grin.

_ “Shut the fuck up I swear to God I will end you.”  _ She responds in kind.

“-but a few days ago one of our scouts was discovered. He commited suicide when the Galra attempted to capture him but failed to properly destroy his ship. That meant his body was intact. Because of this, the Galra were able to craft a device which can sense Marmoran tech and even specific DNA strands pure blooded Galra wouldn’t have- but half-breed Blades would.”

Allura gasps with shock, appalled by the Galra’s tenacity. Lance just feels bad for the poor guy who’d rather kill himself than be captured. Lance can hardly blame the guy after seeing the shit they put Shiro through. 

“Luckily it turns out I’m too human for the device to sense.” 

Shiro nods, “So you want another human to go in with you. Just some of us, Keith? This sounds like a job for all of Voltron.”

“That’s what I thought, too, until my mom got intel that it’s way more complicated than just going in and blowing the place up.” Keith states, “There are two keys held by the lieutenant and the commander on the base. Every forty-eight hours they must insert the key into two opposite sides of the base in order to reset an alarm. If it’s not reset, then the alarm will sound and support troops will wormhole immediately to its location. Essentially, a suicide mission if Voltron goes and causes hell.”

The team is silent for a moment, each processing his words and debating what kind of plan will work. Hunk speaks up, “So what exactly do you want from this base?”

“We need to shut it down without immediately alerting the Galra of what’s happening. If we manage to sneak in and shut down that device, the Blades can swoop in and seize the base just before that forty-eight hour mark. Then we will loot the base of its information and supplies and disengage the alarm system.” Keith clarifies. Lance feels a little sorry for him. He knows how much Keith hates talking for this long. 

“Alright.” Shiro states, turning from Keith to the rest of his team, “Pidge, you should go to hack the system. Also, the Green Lion’s invisibility trick will be helpful.”

Pidge nods with a determined smile, “Roger that!”

“I will-”

“ _ No! _ ” Keith suddenly cuts in, eyes wide and shocked by his own outburst. He coughs and straightens himself, refusing to look at Shiro’s surprised face, “Uh- Lance! Kolivan  _ specifically  _ asked for Lance.”

Lance’s eyebrows raise with sheer astonishment. Everyone turns to look at him and his face begins to heat up, “Oh-uh, me? Really?” Disturbed and a little disheartened by the obvious shock in everyone’s stares, Lance quickly falls to humor, “Goodness, and here I thought Kolivan had a big huge crush on your mom!” He waggles his eyebrows.

“Ew.” Keith gripes. Then he looks off to the side with a frown, “Yup, you. Something about your impeccable marksmanship. He was, uh, he was very impressed.” 

“Wow-really?!” Lance’s eyes shine and his face splits into a genuine grin, “Hell yeah! Finally,  _ someone  _ who appreciates the Lancey Lance! I am the very best.”

Pidge groans before turning to Keith, “You’ve created a monster.”

But Keith isn’t paying attention to Pidge. His eyes are locked onto Lance’s starstruck expression with a tiny smile of his own on his face. Lance is too distracted with boasting to really notice the obvious tenderness being directed his way. The others, though, suffer in silence beneath the heavy pining tension between their two friends. 

“Ahem!” Allura cuts in sharply, effectively cutting off Lance’s oblivious blustering and Keith’s intense loving stare. “When do you need them?”

“Huh? Oh- yeah, as soon as possible.”  Keith stumbles, clearing his throat again and tightening his features into something less apparent. 

“I will wormhole us just outside the Blades base, then.” Allura says, “We will be there in less than a quintant.” 

“I will be waiting in a speeder to guide the Green Lion. She isn’t as fast, so it’s going to be tight.”

Pidge sniffs indignantly, “Green will do just fine! We’ve been working on her speed together. She’s gotten a lost faster since you’ve been around, Keith.”

Keith smiles fondly at the younger girl, “Glad to hear it.” He straightens, “Thanks, guys. Signing off.”

“Bye!” They all chorus happily, the atmosphere much lighter than before thanks to Keith’s sudden call. Even if it’s only because he needs something it still means a lot to them all to see their favorite alien boy. 

 

* * *

 

 

Lance is practically vibrating with nervous excitement by the time both he and Pidge have geared up and boarded the Green Lion. She eyes him with a deadpan stare as she fastens herself to the pilot chair, watching silently while he titters about the small space. He feels her glare and stops, shooting her an apologetic smile and forcing himself to stand still beside the chair. She rolls her eyes playfully and powers up her Lion.

Green moves to her feet and snarls lowly, ready and eager to take off into space. With a solid push on the thrusters Green is off and Lance has to hold onto Pidge’s chair to stay upright in the initial takeoff. He grins down at Pidge, “Can you believe Kolivan asked for  _ me  _ personally? I thought he hated me! Our personalities don’t really clash all that great.”

“Yeah,” Pidge says ambiguously, “ _ he  _ asked.”

“What’re you…?” 

He trails off at a new sound. Her dash screen blinks with an incoming transmission and she accepts the call, “Hey Keith.”

“Hey.” Keith grunts back, his gaze swiftly jumping between both her and Lance. It lingers on Lance so the blue paladin leans forward into Pidge’s space.

“Ready for us, buddy?” Asks Lance.

Keith nods sharply, “Yeah, I can see you guys, I’m coming your way.”

Through Green’s windowed eyes they see an approaching Galra speeder, its deep purple hue brilliantly hiding hit amongst the blackness of space. The castleship’s lights illuminate it enough, however, and Lance shifts his weight impatiently. The speeder draws to a slow stop just before Green, curving to the left and prepared to jet off once more. 

“Let’s go.” Keith says.

Green inches forward as Keith rights his speeder, and then darts forward to keep up with him when he blasts back towards the dangerous magnetic field surrounding the BOM base. 

.

.

.

As expected with Keith leading them, there is little cause for panic along the route into the base. Keith has them dock somewhere near the bottom where many other speeders and smaller cruisers reside. The large double doors to the hangar ease shut behind them as they wait for the room to be airlocked once more, both paladins peering curiously into the bay through Green’s windows. There is a sudden  _ ding!  _ and a flat, robotic voice says,  _ “Oxygen levels stabilized. Please exit now.” _

They watch Keith exit the speeder with a graceful agility, and the Marmora mask phases off his face. He meets them at the opening of Green’s massive mawl.

Pidge gets to him first, throwing her noodle arms surprisingly tight around his waist (which the Marmora suit makes look  _ so so  _ thin and his shoulders  _ so so  _ broad) and damn near squeezing the life out of him. Her helmet knocks carelessly against his chest and he winces at the impact. Regardless of his discomfort, he pats her gently on her back. She pulls back from his chest and grins hugely, her young age glimmering through her delight.

Keith and Lance love this softer side of Pidge, the one she tucked away in some dusty, forlorn corner after losing her brother and father. Now that she knows they are alive and well, however, she has been more lenient in allowing herself to cultivate more familial bonds with the others. The sight makes Lance’s lungs tighten with the possibility of gross, emotional sobbing so he quickly swallows it all down and marches from in between Green’s mighty jaws.

“Missed you, too, Pidge.” Keith grunts.

She pulls back completely, giving Keith some space, and says, “You should’ve at least said hi to everyone else!”

“I did over the comm!”

“Like it’s the same! Hunk is dying to hug you, y’know.”

Keith rubs the back of his neck, “Ah- sorry.” He  _ does  _ look guilty about dissing Hunk so Pidge lets it slide.

Approaching the two much more calmly than even himself expected, Lance preserves his dignity by  _ not  _ throwing himself into Keith’s arms as he desperately wishes to (what? They’re so  _ muscular,  _ of course Lance wants to be cradled by those!). Instead he pulls a total Shiro move and rests his palm on Keith’s left shoulder, offering a sanguine smile, “Howdy, partner.”

Exhaling through his nose, Keith just shakes his head before suddenly his right arm swiftly snakes around Lance’s waist and he tugs the blue paladin into him. Lance cannot possibly contain the abrupt gasp that escapes him, sounding too much like a squeak for his liking, as Keith’s other hand presses flat between his shoulder blades. His armor keeps him from feeling the full brunt of Keith’s touches but it doesn’t stop his skin from tingling and his face from heating up. 

Lance thanks whatever cruel god is watching him that he kept his helmet on when he left Green, otherwise he would have heard Keith’s words centimeters from his ear and that would’ve been  _ so unfair.  _

“For the last time, just because I’m Texan doesn’t mean I’m country.”

Even through their armor Lance can feel the warmth of Keith’s stocky body. He briefly reminisces the days before Keith supposedly spent two years on an intergalactic space whale, when Lance was taller than him, even if was only by an inch or two, and Keith wasn’t so...well,  _ hot.  _ Keith’s always been hot, of course, but ever since he got grizzly and  _ older,  _ he’s been more  _ adult  _ hot than  _ teenager  _ hot. There’s a big difference between adult hot and teenager hot! 

Not to mention ever since he got back, he’s been more  _ receptive,  _ Lance should say, to physical contact. He still isn’t one to necessarily dish it out, so this whole embrace thing happening right now is  _ more than  _ surprising, but he doesn’t try to escape hugs or dodge friendly pats anymore. If anything, Lance has noticed him, in his visits and over the calls his mother attends, leaning into touches and allowing prolonged contact. Lance is pretty proud of him, all things considered. It’s a huge step for him.

But this right here is getting to be a bit too much even for Lance’s affectionate ass. Being this up close and personal with the ruggedness of Keith’s jaw (is that  _ stubble?!?!)  _ and the hard planes of his body isn’t exactly good for a man’s heart!

Lance is grateful Keith can’t see his face from where he has his chin hooked over the other’s shoulder. He can’t seem to stop his top teeth from digging into his bottom lip and ruining the hard work of his favorite lip scrub. Gulping nervously, Lance chuckles along to Keith’s humored tone and lightly presses the palms of his hands into Keith’s upper back, carefully keeping his fingers limp and his grip slack. 

Keith finally pulls back and just as Lance thinks he can breathe again, Keith  _ lingers  _ close enough that Lance could,  _ hypothetically,  _ lean in and-

“So...Keith, you gonna show us this base now?”

Fuck! Lance had forgotten all about Pidge! He inhales sharply and takes a step back, a nervous chuckle bubbling in his chest as he busies himself with removing his helmet, “Uh-yeah, Keith, show us the digs! You got a penthouse suite? You live with your  _ mom? _ ” He attempts to tease as he usually does when he’s flustered or uncomfortable.

Keith just stares at Lance, his face an odd mixture of frustrated understanding, as if something he doesn’t like is happening but he knows it’s got to. It’s a strange expression but passes quickly enough. His face relaxes into something friendlier and he nods his head towards the hangar doors, “We all sleep in the same quarters, Lance. Unfortunately I can’t give a tour right now. We have ten vargas until it is impossible to leave or enter this base. Or did you two forget that?”

“Uh- well, I,” Lance stutters.

Pidge shakes her head, “Sure didn’t, I just wanted the gayness to stop.”

Lance stiffens and glares at her with narrowed eyes full of warning. She shrugs without a care in response. He glances fearfully back at Keith to see his lips twitching in something resembling a smile and feels his chest ease with relief. Keith just thought it was a stupid joke then, thank the lord.

“Let’s get to Kolivan. He’s waiting for us in the war room.”

“Holy shit- y’all have a  _ war  _ room?”

.

.

.

Lance has only spoken to Krolia a handful of times before today. He’s never had much need to outside of mission briefs and Krolia’s more inclined towards calmer people like Shiro and Allura whenever she comes around. So as she greets him with a warm smile and a gentle pat on the cheek that feels almost paternal, he’s a  _ little  _ weirded out. She then  _ insists  _ on him standing beside her at the broad conference table in the center of the war room, right between her and Keith. Kosmo teleports into the room just behind Keith in a flash of startling blue sparks. The room smells of ozone.

Pidge shoots him a raised, questioning eyebrow to which he can only respond to with a shrug. He quickly looks back to Krolia with a polite, if not confused, smile when she turns her gaze to him.

“It has been sometime since we have last seen each other.” She says.

Lance fidgets, his side brushing against Keith’s to his left. Their knuckles briefly touch and he jerks his hand away, keeping it pressed against his thigh armor. Keith folds his arms across his chest and Lance feels lucky that Keith apparently hadn’t noticed. “Uh- h-hi, Commander Krolia-”

“Please, Lance, just Krolia is fine.”

“-right, Krolia, it has been a lo-ong time...how are you?” Lance curses his own nervousness. 

“I am looking forward to the mission, and seeing you in action.”

Lance blinks and points a startled finger towards himself, “Me?”

Krolia nods, “Yes, Keith has told me many impressive stories of your prowess in battle, as well as your contributions to Voltron’s combative strategy.”

Lance whips his head towards Keith, bright blue eyes wide with awed surprise. Keith’s staring at his mother but he doesn’t appear angry as Lance would’ve suspected. His gaze is amused and his plush lips are tugged into an easy going smile. The sight of it makes Lance’s jaw drop, “Uh?”

Pidge snorts as Keith turns his eyes to Lance, the amused look never slipping, “Is something wrong?”

Embarrassment and obnoxious happiness makes Lance’s tongue sloppy, “Uhm? Yes? You can’t-”

“Can’t what? Tell my mom about my friends? Tell her about the  _ amazing  _ sharpshooter who’s saved my ass more times than I can count?”

Lance’s heart throws itself against his ribcage like a WWE wrestler bouncing off the rope back into the ring. “UHM!” He stares at that soft smile, utterly confused and not sure if he should be blissfully pleased (too late, here come the butterflies) or suspicious of some ulterior motive. “Wh-we-well, you  _ can,  _ but you-you aren’t  _ supposed _ to!”

Keith’s expression morphs into something adorably confused, his head tilting almost like Kosmo does when she’s stumped, “What’re you talking about?”

“We’re  _ rivals! _ ”  _ Please Keith, holy fuck, it’s legit the only defense I have left do not take this from me. _

At that, Keith darkens and the frustrated glint in his eye makes Lance want to shrink away. Of course, he doesn’t do that but it’s a damn near thing! The red paladin frowns stormily, “I thought you got over that. We’re friends.”

“Well  _ yeah,  _ we’re friends, but we’re also  _ frenemies. _ ”  _ Stop talking stop talking stop talking you’re being so obvious- _

“Meaning…?”

“ _ Me-aning  _ that we don’t say nice shit about each other but we still have each other’s backs! You’re the Faith to my Buffy, the Sam to my Freddie, the Dwight to my Jim.”

Keith scoffs rudely, scrunching his nose as if he just smelled something gross, “First of all,  _ you’re  _ Dwight. Second of all, maybe I don’t  _ want  _ to be frenemies, ever think about that?”

“That’s the whole point, Keith, neither  _ want  _ to be friends but instead  _ need  _ to be friends, do you understand tropes at all?”

“I don’t want to be mean to you at  _ all!  _ I want to pam-” Keith cuts himself off, taking a deep breath through his nose. He looks over Lance’s head at his mother as if trying to patience. 

Krolia places a hand on Lance’s shoulder, drawing his attention to her. Her smile is a bit strained as she says, “Please, boys, let’s act like we’re grown?”

Like a switch, Lance immediately feels shame replace his heated flustering. Leave it to a mom to know how to flip a situation around! He straightens his spine and nods in what he hopes is a mature nature, “Of course, Krolia, sorry about that.” His cheeks stay red when he realizes the rest of the room had been staring at Keith and Lance during their brief argument. Great, now a bunch of aliens think he’s a fucking kid. He’s got no one to thank but himself, getting all keyed up like that. He’s got to work on his tendency to overcompensate, at this rate Keith is going to see right through him!

Krolia appears amused but all she says is, “Quiet down, you two, Kolivan is coming.”

 

* * *

 

 

Surprisingly, the mission goes by without any life-threatening issues. Lance, Keith, and Pidge were the ones who snuck into the base using Green’s cloaking ability, and in less than twenty doboshes they had swiped the two keys off the commanders. In the next five they had already disengaged the alarm for another forty-eight vargas. Before the sentries and live guards even noticed, the paladins had already shut down the tracking device and hailed the rest of the Blades. At that point their covers had been blown and it morphed into an all out fire fight between them and the base’s forces. The commanders, mortified by their abysmal failure, fought abnormally aggressively- even for Galra. Lance got a little worried at one point for the safety of his friends but the Blades came to their aid in the nick of time. 

Kolivan and Krolia had Pidge copy the data of the tracking device before personally destroying the thing, even going so far as to gather the broken pieces to melt in the Blades’ incinerator. After that, they spent the following five vargas ransacking the base of all resources, information, and weaponry. Over all, it was a grand success for the Blade of Marmora. Lance and Pidge were ecstatic to have been the cause of it.

Now they stand in front of Green alongside Keith, Kolivan, and Krolia. Lance smiles hugely with a macho satisfaction, “Another win for the heroes! Up high!” He holds his hand up for Kolivan, wagging his eyebrows.

Kolivan stares blankly at him, either not understanding or not caring enough to.

Lance doesn’t let that stop him, instead jerking his outstretched palm towards Krolia, “Okay, no bueno, got it. Krolia!”

The older Galra’s lips twitch into a fond expression as she enthusiastically slaps Lance’s hand with her own. It hurts a bit but Lance grins through the pain. “Ah, yes, Keith’s father taught me this when I was on Earth. He liked them but said I hurt his hand sometimes.”

Shaking his wrist out, Lance chuckles nervously, “No idea why he would say that.”

Keith takes a step forward, abruptly jutting out his flattened hand and setting an expectant gaze on Lance. Lance’s heart gives a delighted squeeze and, if he had less self control and less practice in dealing with his Keith-related feelings, he would have squealed at how adorable he found Keith to be in that moment. His grin pulls into something softer as he high-fives Keith, “Good job, buddy.”

Keith doesn’t let go of Lance’s hand, instead squeezing onto it and leaning in closer. Lance isn’t sure what emotion is in Keith’s eyes- all he knows is that it’s making his stomach flop nervously and his breath come faster. The Red Paladin smiles, “I’m proud of you, Lance.”

Lance’s breath catches in his throat. He begins to fidget but refuses to break off contact, “W-with me?”

“How could I not be?” Keith’s voice...it’s unbearably  _ gentle. _

Lance can hardly even look at Keith now, eyes jumping from the ground to the other man back to the ground again. He laughs anxiously, “Ha-ah, sure, all I did was shoot some stuff.”

“You’re an amazing shot.”

“Pidge did most of the real work!”

“And I’m proud of her, too.”

Lance continues to laugh, face now a vivid cherry and fingers trembling where they restlessly bump against his side. He finally pulls his hand away from Keith, his heart jumping at the slight resistance, and quickly latches himself onto Pidge’s smaller form, startling the girl. His grin is wild and self-conscious as he begins to ramble, “Yeah, Pidge, you were so fast, haha, you got in and out like a ninja, almost gave samurai here a run for his money, haha, and you downloaded that data so fast, amazing-” 

Pidge looks up with a deadpan expression, easily seeing through Lance’s obvious attempt to hide his own embarrassed reaction to Keith’s praise. She cuts him off, “Lance?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you, and I love you, but shut up.”

“Rodger dodger! Shut up, uh, I’ll do that now.” Lance untangles himself from her, knowing she hates prolonged contact, and scratches at the back of his head. He very clearly avoids making eye contact with the grinning, prideful Keith. “Well-uhm, thanks for thinking of us, this was a great mission, we should probs head back now.”

“Wait, Lance,” Pidge says, “I have to make sure that data isn’t bugged with false encryptions or malware. If I don’t, it could jeopardize the Blades’ whole system and potentially out them to the Galra.” 

“Oh shit. Uh, how long is that going to take?”

“Considering the vast amount of data we collected? Probably at least two days.”

“ _ Two?  _ Well, we better get back to the castle so you can get started.”

Kolivan takes a step forward, “Actually, Blue Paladin, it may be best she use our system since she is calibrating it specifically for us.”

Lance’s heart skips a beat as Pidge hums in agreement, “That’s a great idea, Kolivan. That way there’s no losing bits of data in translation, and we won’t have to make a seperate trip to deliver it.”

Lance risks a glance at Keith to see excitement plain as day on his handsome face. Jesus, can the guy get any cuter? So happy to have his friends around...Lance can’t help but smile. 

“Then you two will stay on the Blades’ base until you have completed the decryption.” Krolia states, “You will have at least three days of no interruption.”

“Sweet.” Pidge says, then she turns her attention to Lance, “Honestly, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to, Lance. I’m sure one of the Blades can drop you off at the castle.”

And Lance is almost tempted to take her up on her offer. He isn’t sure if he can handle two days straight of whatever it is Keith is doing to him. But one peek at the hopeful glint in Keith’s eyes and his own desperate want for the exact thing he fears and suddenly he’s shaking his head, “Nah, I’ll keep you company.”

“You sure?” Contrary to the question, Pidge’s voice holds amused knowledge, “It’s gonna be boring.”

Keith says, “Don’t worry, Pidge, I have some things in mind to keep him busy. He won’t bother you.”

“Hey!” Yelps Lance, “I’m a  _ joy  _ to have around!”

“Never said you weren’t.”

“No- Keith, this is the part where that  _ frenemy  _ thing comes into play?”

“I told you already, I don’t want to argue with you.”

“Well  _ I  _ wanna argue with  _ you! _ ”

Keith gives an aggressive sigh before turning to Krolia and Kolivan, “I’m going to take them back to the base and get Pidge to the mainframe.”

Kolivan grunts in agreement, then gestures to Lance, “And the Blue Paladin?”

“I’ll make sure he sticks to where he can’t destroy anything.”

Lance gasps in mock affront, stamping his left foot, “I won’t- ugh!”

Krolia smiles kindly at Lance as she lays a heavy hand on his shoulder, “It is more for your own safety, Lance. Please make an effort to stay with Keith during your stay on the base.”

Yeah, no way that’s happening, Lance needs a break from Keith’s weird new attitude. Seriously,  _ nice  _ Keith? This is wackier than when they found out he was part Galra! But he doesn’t want to make them privy to his top secret plans of sneaking off whenever Keith isn’t looking, so he says, “Sure thing, Krolia, you’re the boss.”

Krolia preens at that and almost makes Lance feel a little guilty. She says, “Excellent. Get going, you three, Pidge has much work to do.”

Lance goes to attention and does a imitation salute, making Pidge snort and Keith roll his eyes. Pidge calls out to Green to have the Lion lower her head. The three paladins begin to board.

“Wait! Keith!” Krolia calls, stepping towards him. She raises an eyebrow, “You forgot something?”

Keith looks confused until his face abruptly drops. He fidgets, looking away, “Mom.” He groans.

“I’m waiting!” She stands next to him and opens her arms expectantly.

The annoyance on Keith’s face is grandly rebutted by the softness of his smile as he hugs her tightly. She places a hand on his head and the other on his back, the way she towers over him almost comical. Lance would usually be quick to make fun of such things but his own homesickness and longing for the warmth of his mother just makes him close to tears at the sight. He has to look away before it becomes too much and reminds himself to be happy for Keith instead of feeling useless sorrow for himself.

“I love you, Keith.”

“I love you, too, mom.”

Pidge makes a joking  _ awwh!  _ noise and the moment is broken. Keith pulls away from Krolia and scowls at his friend. Lance wants to snap at Pidge for ruining it- if anyone deserves to finally have some parental comfort, it’s Keith. 

He manages to keep hold of his usually loose tongue, however, and instead hides his shame with a tease, “C’mon, momma’s boy!”

Keith narrows his eyes at Lance and goes to sneer something much more Keith-like back at him but Krolia beats him to it. She abruptly envelopes Lance and Pidge into a massive group hug, her huge arms more than able to lock them both into place regardless of struggle, “If you wanted affection, too, you should have just asked.”

Keith laughs over her shoulder at them, knowing how powerful Krolia’s bear hugs can get.

Pidge wheezes as Lance feels something pop and mutters, “Uncle, uncle-”

“What is an uncle?”

Still laughing, Keith touches her arm, “It means he’s begging for mercy and he won’t make fun of me again.”

“Ah! Good! Now, seriously, leave.” Krolia drops them, allowing the two paladins to hurry up the ramp. Keith smiles at her as he passes.

Green’s mawl closes shut behind them and she stands tall and proud. In another tick she is gone, darting off into space.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading thus far. I appreciate all comments, kudos, and views! If you like this, make sure to check out my [other works](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RipVanWinkle/works), my [tumblr](https://ronswansoneatsmyass.tumblr.com/), and my Patreon (link on my Tumblr page)! 
> 
> Toodles!


End file.
